Introducing the Bioware Bazaar

Epos Nix on 30/3/2010 at 03:27

Bioware are hosting an auction taking place over several days for US residents (sorry everyone else (and Florida and New York...)) Basically, they will post an auction that will take place for 15 minutes at a time and you can use the points you've accrued through registering your games to place bids. Prizes range from random art and figurines to gaming laptops and such.

Quote:

To show our appreciation of fan support and to celebrate the 15th anniversary of BioWare, we have created the BioWare Bazaar - a week-long series of mock online auctions beginning April 6th that will feature over 400 items ranging from custom painted PC's, Alienware laptops, BioWare apparel and more!

To bid on these items, fans will need to collect tokens through various challenges. The first auction begins at 9 AM PST on Tuesday, April 6th, with new items being made available every 15 minutes, ending 4 PM PST Saturday, April 10th. So tell your friends, start collecting tokens, and get ready to win some amazing prizes!

(http://social.bioware.com/brc/1428582) Here's a link to my referral page. Post yours and we can show each other some love. And (http://social.bioware.com/bazaar) Here's a link to the official site.

EvaUnit02 on 30/3/2010 at 07:44

This was a massive anticlimactic load of fail. They had a mysterious 6-day long countdown on every Bioware portal site to an "epic community event". It is hardly epic and apparently their definition of community to is limited 50 American states, thank you Canadian arseholes.

Kolya on 30/3/2010 at 11:50

That site reminds me a lot of the IrrationalGames.com website. Is this a general trend that game companies litter their community contact with achievement points like a prep school class teacher?
I understand where they are coming from given the audience that accumulates at such sites.
But as a mature gamer it's hard to feel taken seriously with someone who turns every potential communication into a simple-minded one-way marketing game.

mothra on 30/3/2010 at 15:00

who visists those sites anyway besides for downloading the free DLCs ?
I never got any worthy info from an official site except some very, very, very, very rare exceptions.

gunsmoke on 30/3/2010 at 15:28

Ha. So, there are only 2 games and 1 expansion that you can actually register? :grr: I have 8 Bioware games registered to my account (all purchased new, you have to register them via CD keys so there are no dupes), but none are even close to eligible. So much for brand loyalty...

+edit+ guess it is an EA Games thing. That explains it, they haven't published more than a couple of their games.+/edit+

Ulukai on 30/3/2010 at 15:28

Don't hate on Bioware too much.

Many companies are cursed with marketing departments that are a law unto themselves.

Jason Moyer on 30/3/2010 at 19:06

Quote Posted by Kolya

Is this a general trend that game companies litter their community contact with achievement points like a prep school class teacher?

(http://g4tv.com/videos/44277/dice-2010-design-outside-the-box-presentation/)

He touches on that a little bit. The big trend in gaming is marketing everything with metagames, instead of making actual good games that stand up by themselves. People don't want to buy our games? Hey, let's make a game out of it...5 points for each game you buy. Beat your friends' high scores. Consume!

gunsmoke on 30/3/2010 at 21:14

Quote Posted by Ulukai

Don't hate on Bioware too much.

Many companies are cursed with marketing departments that are a law unto themselves.

Yeah, we posted simultaneously. In my edit, I realized it is, in fact, an EA thing. Never hate Bioware, they have given me 100s of hours of joy over the past decade. Just a bit strange that they restricted it so much.

Kolya on 30/3/2010 at 22:45

Quote Posted by Jason Moyer

That was an interesting presentation. Especially the parts about authenticity and games breaking through into reality.

CCCToad on 31/3/2010 at 20:50

Here you go Epos....Been clicking on yours a few times :D